Samsung Electronics increased its capital expenditure plans, but profit in its chip division fell short of investors' high expectations. The company also disappointed investors by not unveiling its latest shareholder return plan, causing the stock to give up its gains and fall as much as 6.6%.
The company said it expects capital expenditure for 2026 to reach 84.4 trillion won, an increase of approximately 60%. Additionally, a new shareholder return plan will be announced by the end of January, in stark contrast to SK Hynix, which released strong earnings on Wednesday and signaled its intention to return approximately $45 billion to shareholders.
"Making the market wait until January for the full shareholder return plan leaves a gap where good news was supposed to come through," said eToro analyst Josh Gilbert. "Samsung is also raising capital expenditure by about 60% this year, so until Samsung clearly explains how it will allocate funds between new capacity and shareholder returns, how much investors will ultimately receive remains unknown."
Samsung's reported results showed that operating profit in its chip business rose about 15-fold to 10.65 trillion won in the three months through September, below the analyst average estimate of 10.85 trillion won. Group net profit grew more than 500%. Samsung said in August that it planned to return up to 110 trillion won ($82.5 billion) to investors this year.
"Delaying the details of shareholder returns until January is disappointing," said Rob Li, managing partner at Amont Partners. "This gives stock traders a reason to rotate funds into SK Hynix or Micron Technology over the next few months, as those two companies have clearer paths for shareholder returns."
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